Before our invention, prior art practices of extracting coconut water from a coconut, in the presence of air containing oxygen, unintentionally compromised the quality of the coconut water. In this regard, by allowing the coconut water to contact oxygen, in the air, chemical reactions, in the coconut water, are initiated. These reactions cause oxidation to rapidly degrade the coconut water flavor, color or clarity, nutritional or nutrient benefits, and/or degrade or impact other attributes of the coconut water that are sensitive to oxidation reactions.
Another shortcoming of prior art practices can be that since oxygen degrades the attributes of coconut water so quickly, growers may often be left with hoping that consumers will be unaware that their harvesting and coconut water extraction practices can be harmful to the consumer benefits associated with the coconut water. In this regard, prior art coconut water extraction practices can often nullify many of the consumer benefits, of the coconut water, long before it reaches the consumer.
Another shortcoming of prior art practices can be that for those growers that make an attempt to maintain some consumer benefit value, in their coconut water, post-harvest, the growers are often forced to undertake costly measures. On such measure can be transporting the coconuts to a remote location far from the grove but closer to the consumer for processing. This measure can be an attempt to harvest the coconut water, exposing the water to oxygen during extraction, but then trying to use the coconut water quickly before oxidation degradation destroys all of the consumer benefit attributes. This is a very costly approach with not real net benefit which extends shelf life of the coconut water.
Another shortcoming of prior art practices can be that coconut water extracted, in the presence of oxygen, starts a degradation process that in large part limits the coconut water, if extracted locally, from being transported to foreign countries and arrive in a grove-fresh state. In this regard, by the time the extracted coconut water arrives in a foreign country it is likely that the oxygen has oxidized the coconut water, irreversibly damaging the flavors, color or clarity, nutritional or nutrient benefit, and/or damaging other attributes of the coconut water.
Another shortcoming can be the handling of the coconut water during the transfer and processing from coconut to packaged product. In this regard, even if care is taken to extract the coconut water from the coconut, minimizing exposure to oxygen, subsequent handling, transfer, and processing through equipment to final product packaging can expose the coconut water to oxygen.
For these reasons and shortcomings as well as other reasons and shortcomings there is a long felt need that gives rise to the present invention.